What is, perhaps, the single most famous shipwreck of all
time, the wreck of the RMS Titanic. On the fateful night of
April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg that
sent her to a deep and cold watery grave. Her wreckage lies in
12,460 feet of water in the North Atlantic, a lonely stretch of
water several hundred miles east of Nova Scotia. In 1985, her
remains were discovered by a Franco-American expedition led by
the world-renowned oceanographer Bob Ballard.

Let’s discuss and look at the men and women, and their
equipment, that made this discovery possible. We’ll also talk
about more recent expeditions to the Titanic, and look at some
of the artifacts that have been recovered from the site. We will
also talk a little about the controversy over disturbing this
wreck. But first, let’s review the story of this magnificent
vessel and its horrific tragedy.

The
Titanic was built in Belfast, Ireland, under the direction of J.
Bruce Ismay, co-owner of the White Star Line. On July 31, 1908,
the final contracts were signed for the construction of Titanic
and her sister ships the
Olympic
and the
Britannic.
The Titanic as her name implies was enormous. According to the
original specifications, she would be 882 feet 9 inches in
length, 94 feet wide and 100 feet high to the Bridge level.
Construction continued in various phases until the Titanic was
ready for her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912.

Let’s
take a closer look at the activities of this fateful day.

At about 7:30 a.m., Captain Edward J. Smith boards the
Titanic along with his crew. The Titanic is in Southampton,
England, having made a short sail from the shipyards in Ireland
as a test.

At 8:00 a.m., the crew is summoned and a brief
lifeboat drill is conducted using only two starboard boats
(number 11 and 15).

Between 9:30 and 11:00 a.m.,
passengers are permitted to board the ship. As depicted in the
recent Movie “Titanic”, the boarding for first class passengers
is quite a different process than for those destined for
steerage. Wealthy people enjoyed lavish accommodations, fine
food, recreation and breathtaking views of the Ocean. Second
class and steerage passengers were boarded below decks, often in
cramped quarters. Many were immigrants hoping to begin a new
life in America.

At 11:30 a.m., the First class
passengers are escorted to their cabins.

By noon on April
10, 1912, the Titanic sets sail. Casting off from the docks, she
is towed by several tugboats and is escorted to the open ocean.

At 5:30 p.m., the Titanic arrives at Cherbourg, France to pick
up more passengers. By 8:00 p.m., she takes on 274 additional
passengers and sets sail for an overnight trip to Queensland,
Ireland. By 11:30 a.m. the next day, 120 more passengers are
boarded.

At 1:30 p.m., on April 11, 1912, the Titanic’
anchor is lifted for the final time. Once more several tugboats
escort to the open ocean where she will depart on her first
transatlantic voyage to New York. Of course, this will be the
last time she will ever see port again.

An estimate of 2,227 people was believed to be aboard
the Titanic before her ill-fated disaster. The exact number
passengers are not known due to various discrepancies in the
crew and passenger lists.

The story of Titanic’ final
days at sea is legendary and of course, her sinking is one of
the most captivating and tragic stories of modern times.

Between April 11 and 12, the Titanic covered 386 miles of
open-ocean, the weather is calm and clear.

Between April
12 and 13, the Captain decides to increase her speed, which
allows her to cover 519 miles. The crew started to receive ice
warnings, but that was expected and was not considered unusual
for April.

On Sunday, April 14, 1912, the Titanic began
to pick up more frequent iceberg warnings being observed from
nearby vessels. For instance, at 1:42 p.m., an iceberg warning
from the vessel Baltic is received which tells of large
quantities of field ice about 250 miles ahead of the Titanic.
The message is given to Captain Smith, who later gives it to
Bruce Ismay who was aboard for her maiden voyage. He puts the
message in his pocket.

At 5:30 that evening, the captain
slightly alters the ship’s course, perhaps to try to avoid the
ice.

At 7:30 p.m., three warning messages from the
Californian concerning large icebergs are received. The messages
are once again relayed to the Captain, who is attending a dinner
party. The ice is now only 50 miles ahead.

At 9:20 p.m.,
the Captain retires for the night, asking only to be wakened if
necessary.

At 11:40 p.m., the Titanic is moving at 20 ½
knots (23.59 mi/hr). The air temperature is close to 32 degrees
under a cloudless sky. The water temperature is 31 degrees.
Suddenly, the Titanic’ lookouts spot an iceberg, towering 50-60
feet above the water only 500 yards away. Immediately, the
warning bells are sounded and messages relayed to the bridge.

Sixth officer Moody is on the bridge at the time and
acknowledges the warning. The order to turn the ship “hard-a-starboard”
is given along with the order to stop the engines. The levers to
close the watertight doors below the waterline are activated.
The Titanic begins to veer to port but it is too late. Titanic
strikes the iceberg along the starboard bow side of the
ship. The iceberg retreats into the night, having inflicted a
mortal wound on this great ship. A mere 37 seconds have
elapsed from the moment the iceberg was sighted.

The Titanic is DOOMED!

In ten minutes, water has risen 14 feet above the keel. The
first five compartments are taking on water. Boiler room number
6 is flooded in eight feet of water.

By midnight, the
mailroom, 24 feet above the keel, begins taking on water. The
captain asks for and receives an assessment of the situation:
The Titanic will stay afloat for 1 to 1 ½ hours only.

By
12:05 a.m., April 15, 1912, the Squash court, 32 feet above the
keel, is awash. Orders are given to uncover the lifeboats. The
grim reality of the situation is beginning to take shape. There
is only enough room for 1,178 passengers in the lifeboats, but
there are 2,227 people on board.

Between 12:15 and 2:17
a.m., several ships report having heard the Titanic’ distress
signals. These include the Titanic’ sister ship the Olympic, who
is 500 miles away. The Mount Temple, Frankfort, Birma, Baltic,
Virginian and the Carpathia all attempt to come about and render
assistance.

At around 12:15 a.m., the ship’s band begins
to play music in the first class lounge on “A deck”…this of
course, is a famous and ultimately surrealistic image!

At
12:25 a.m., the order to begin loading lifeboats is given
and by 12:45, the first boat is lowered away. It leaves with
28 people, but it has a capacity to hold 68.

The loading of passengers into lifeboats soon degenerates into
chaos. More and more lifeboats leave, most of them are less than
fully loaded. Panic now grips the passengers as many begin to
realize the desperate situation at hand.

At 1:45 a.m.,
the last words ever heard from the titanic are received by the
Carpathia, which is steaming at full speed to try to render
assistance. These words are: “Engine room full up to the
boilers”

At 2:10 a.m., with water now only ten feet below
the promenade deck, Captain Smith relieves the wireless
operators from their duties. One of them, a man by the name of
Phillips, continues to send messages. The last message was sent
at 2:17 a.m.

The Captain finally states that “Its every
man for himself” and retreats to the bridge to await the end.

At this time, the Titanic’ bow plunges underwater. By 2:20 a.m.,
the broken off stern section settles below the water and the
ship begins its long, lonely descent into the darkness of the
icy Atlantic.

Out of 2,220 that booked passage, 1,500 die as
a result of the sinking, with 705 people surviving.

The band who played bravely into the night while the
ship was sinking around them.

The brave men who ushered “women and children first”
onto the lifeboats, knowing they themselves would not be
saved.

The Captain who reluctantly ordered the ship’s speed
increased…and who was destined to go down with his ship.

The second class and steerage passengers who were locked
below decks until the First class passengers were taken care
of.

Husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, children who
would forever be separated by death.

Bruce Ismay, who managed to save himself aboard a
lifeboat and who originally, managed the construction of
titanic.

The survivors, all of whom must carry the memory of this
night with them all the rest of their lives.

And of course, the 1500 people who died in the North
Atlantic early in the morning April 15, 1912.

As a result of this sinking, several profound changes
were made in the shipping industry. Of course, the
most significant
was the pronouncement from the British Board of Inquiry that
from then on there would be enough life boats for all
passengers
on board. In addition, in April of 1913, an International Ice
Patrol was established which, under the direction of the US
Coast Guard, would guard the sea lanes of the North Atlantic.

The tragic story of the sinking of the Titanic has become
legendary. Through books and movies, generations have come to
know and understand her final days at sea. However, it wasn’t
until 1985, when Dr. Robert Ballard, using state of the art
technology, finally discovered the final resting spot of this
once proud luxury liner.

The quest to find the Titanic was made up of a joint
American-French expedition team. On paper, their strategy
sounded simple. The French would tow a deep-sea sonar device in
a grid pattern over the general area of the sinking until the
wreck was found. Dr. Ballard would deploy Argo, a deep-towed,
deep-sea video vehicle.

Of course, despite Titanic’ immense size, she would merely be a
speck in the vast North Atlantic Ocean. Days and weeks went by,
and the difficulties of towing a heavy device 12,500 below the
surface became evident. If the ship towing the video sled moved
too fast, the friction of the water would cause Argo to “kite”
in the water, losing its ability to focus its cameras properly.

Then, early in the morning of September 1, 1985, as Argo was
being towed over endless stretches of featureless mud, the weary
operators suddenly began to see something. It was close to 1:00
a.m. when they finally got what they were looking for:

Wreckage!

In fact, the first recognizable piece was one of the
ship’s boilers. Still, no Titanic…just a small, tantalizing
piece!

However, the scientists and engineers aboard all
knew they were close. As Argo continued its vigilant search
above the ocean floor, larger and larger pieces of wreckage
began to appear. They were over the “debris field”, a section of
ocean floor covered with loose items from the Titanic. The time
now was approaching 2:00 a.m.…almost the same time as when the
ship actually sank!

For the safety of the vehicle, Argo was pulled up from the
bottom. The main wreck had not yet been found, but everyone knew
it was very nearby. Ironically, it was not the fancy deep sea
technology that actually pinpointed the main wreck, but an old
fashioned echo sounder on board the research vessel which did
the trick the next day. With the exact location found, Argo was
re-deployed and video images of the wreck seen for the first
time since its sinking decades earlier began to return to the
surface.

The expedition of 1985 ended shortly thereafter. Ballard
returned the following year to conduct a more exhaustive study
of the wreck. In 1986, a manned submersible named Alvin, would
be used to take men down and view the actual wreck and for the
first time since its sinking. Aboard Alvin would be Jason Jr., a
remotely operated vehicle, which could be deployed from the sub
to penetrate deeper inside the wreck itself. Of course, with the
exact site of the wreck known, finding the Titanic was easy this
time.e.

Descending 12,000 feet in a
submersible like Alvin is no picnic! Cramped quarters make the
job difficult, not to mention the long time it takes to descend
to the bottom. Travel time from the surface to the bottom
averages about 1 1/2 hours. Still, using the combination of
submersible technology and ROV equipment, a stunning array of
images of information about the wreck have now been brought to
the surface for all the world to see. Ballard has since focused
his energies on furthering the cause of science and education.

Others, however, have returned to the Titanic.

In 1994, United States Federal Court granted
“salvor-in-possession” rights to RMS Titanic, Inc. The court
award includes the exclusive rights to own objects recovered
from the wreck as well as exclusive rights to photograph the
site.

During expeditions conducted in 1987, 1993, 1994
and 1996, RMS Titanic, Inc. has recovered more than 5,000
artifacts from the wreck site. These artifacts were carefully
preserved and have been put on display for the public in several
locations. Some of these artifacts are photographed here and it
is quite sobering to see these items, knowing the tragedy that
has befallen their original owners.

Recently, RMS
Titanic, Inc. actually sponsored a cruise to the wreck site
where paying customers could actually witness the raising of a
large piece of the Titanic from the bottom. With the cruise ship
on site, passengers waited eagerly to catch a glimpse of the
recovered artifact. But efforts failed, and the piece that was
to be recovered returned to the bottom after the cables holding
it in place snapped.

There is some controversy raging over the recovery of
these artifacts.

Some, Bob Ballard included, feel that
the Titanic is a graveyard and a memorial to all those who died
on the evening of April 15, 1912. By disturbing the site and
removing artifacts, they feel that the sanctity and dignity of
the Titanic is being compromised. Others, like RMS Titanic,
Inc., feel that the wreck is an artifact of history and the
pieces recovered only help to further educate others about the
Titanic. They also maintain that the sea is slowing destroying
these artifacts and that left in place, over time they will
vanish forever. They also feel their efforts to salvage these
artifacts will help to preserve the Titanic and its memory
forever.

Regardless of your position on this, the story of the
Titanic is a compelling one. Today, with the release of the
hugely successful movie and Broadway musical, Titanic fever has
gripped the public like never before. We only ask that you
remember the victims of this tragedy as you enjoy these recent
works of art.

U.S. moves to protect Titanic wreckage --
Treaty would regulate future visits to historic hulk (Full
Story)
The treaty is the result of negotiations involving the United
States, Britain, Canada and France -- four of the prominent
governmental players in the Titanic's fate.
Posted: MSNBC, 5:58 p.m. ET,
Friday, June. 18, 2004

RMS Titanic, Inc. is conducting its fifth expedition to the
wreck of the Titanic. Follow their journey during the
expedition, view daily reports and exclusive photos from the
wreck site. An online calendar is available to help plan your
own journey in your quest to discover the mysteries of the
Titanic!

View the
BIG PIECE, a broken portion of the ship’s hull that had
fallen into the debris field near the stern section of
Titanic' wreck.
more...

Photomosaics(TM) are mosaics made from photographs rather
than solid colored tiles. There are many versions of Titanic
Photomosaics
on the web today and can be seen as posters, framed pictures as
well as stamp commemorative sheets.

This eight-stamp commemorative sheet features the Titanic in
a photomocaic collage. Photomosaics is a method of arranging
thousands of tiny photographs that when viewed from a distance,
combine to form a singler larger image. The photographs used for
this pieces consists of marine life, ocean and beach shots to
make up the Titanic.

In Memoriam: On February 4, 2008, Ralph Bradshaw White died in
Glendale, California from complications of an aortic aneurysm. He was 60.
White was an award winning cinematographer with hundreds of movies and
television programs to his resume, but he is perhaps most famous for his
ground breaking experiences diving and filming the wreck of the RMS Titanic
in 12,000 feet of seawater.

After documenting the expedition that found the wreck of the Titanic, he
participated in, and co-directed, a subsequent expedition to photograph the
wreck more extensively and to recover over 5,000 artifacts from the wreck’s
debris field. He would return again in 1991 as the submersible cameraman for
the IMAX film "Titanica" and was the expedition leader
and second unit cameraman for James Cameron’s Oscar winning film "Titanic".
All told, White made 35 dives to the wreck of the Titanic in his long and
storied career.

Ralph White was a true pioneer in the science of deep water cinematography.
Through his work, and his captivating personal appearances at various
conventions and dive conferences, Ralph White’s lifelong devotion to
capturing the mysteries of the deep ocean have enlightened millions to the
fascinating environment at the true bottom of the sea.

Multimedia Programs

These programs are generally provided for the New York area.
Contact Eco-Photo Explorers for more detailed information
about available programs outside the New York area or the
programs listed below. These programs can also be custom
tailored to your needs.

The RMS Titanic…Her Final
Days
- Join Eco-Photo Explorers as they recall the tragic history
of the RMS Titanic and the exciting search for her remains.
The show will also feature discussions on the technology
used to find the wreck and will examine the current
controversy over the recovery of artifacts from this site.

Long Island Shipwrecks -
Special Edition - This special edition program blends
"Long Island Shipwrecks" as well as the "The RMS
Titanic...Her Final Days" program into a well rounded
presentation of some of the most well know shipwrecks in the
New York area as well as touching on the most famous
shipwreck of all time.

Encyclopedia Titanica - features illustrated biographies of
thousands of passengers and crew, with photographs, supporting
documents, films, and recordings.
Online Titanic Museum - memorial items as well as authentic
artifacts removed from the ship prior to her sailing and
ultimate demise.